Description:
The story of this work started when the President of the Shenyang Conservatory of Music presented the composer with a gift of a replica traditional xūn from Liaoning Province asking him whether he could make an electroacoustic composition with this ancient ocarina-like instrument. This work is the result. Its source material consists of samples taken from a recording made at the Tianjin Conservatory of Music. Li Yue played pieces and recorded various techniques on four different xūns; it is this material that has been recomposed on the 8-channel recording. Only one sound was transposed to support musical coherence; all others are exactly as recorded. The goal is to celebrate the xūn’s rich tradition and demonstrate that it can sound very new, too. It has been composed exclusively for Li Yue in the mixed version, but as he cannot always be present at this work’s performances, its slightly shorter ‘fixed medium’ version will be presented.

Description:This composition is the second in a series of four works in the composer’s Radio Series. Each work is based on the radio in a particular country: France, Germany (this concert’s choice with a video of the English translation), the UK and China (made with students from Shenyang). Like many recent works, these pieces focus on recycling sounds (also known as appropriation, plundering, sampling, etc.). All four use diverse broadcast recordings covering very few days as source material. Other than on one or two occasions in each piece, all sounds are presented in their original state. The role chosen is simply to re-compose this sound material. For those familiar with the given nation’s radio, familiar voices and logos can be heard. The piece works both at the level of heightened listening – understanding every word spoken if that is what you wish to pay attention to – and reduced listening – catching the occasional phrase, but listening to the work as organised sound. The pieces seek to take the known, tilt it ever so slightly and re-present it as a sound-based artwork. They are intended to celebrate common as well as distinctly different cultural characteristics of our broadcast worlds. Humour is one of the works’ key elements. As far as copyright is concerned... don’t ask. ‘Radio-aktiv’ was commissioned by the ZKM in Karlruhe for the 2011 ARD Hörspiel Tagen (national radio play festival).

Short bio:Leigh Landy holds a Research Chair at De Montfort University where he directs the Music, Technology and Innovation Research Centre. His compositions include several for video, dance and theatre. His publications focus on the studies of electroacoustic music, in particular issues related to making this music accessible. He is editor of “Organised Sound”, author of seven books including “Understanding the Art of Sound Organization” (MIT Press), two edited editions and is writing “The Twenty-first Century Sonic Musician” currently with John Richards focusing on DIY and sampling cultures. He directs the ElectroAcoustic Resource Site (EARS) projects and is a founding member of the Electroacoustic Music Studies Network (EMS). www.mti.dmu.ac.uk/~llandy.
Title: Waves (Live biofeedback audiovisual composition)
Composer: Marek Choloniewski

Program notes:This work is a project that uses the performer’s brainwaves to control complex audiovisual composition. The Waves research project started in 2014 with the aim to mix up brainwaves with electromagnetic signals. In the current research the composer goes further as extending his exploration towards the performance with extended sensoric metacontroll. Mapping the performance space by the use of mixed technologies creates a new ethernal/internal multidimensional art form. Discrete and intimate elements of the performance are still essential elements of Choloniewski’s transmedial performance.
The technical setup for this piece includes video projection and an 8-channel audio system.

Short bio:Marek Chołoniewski (b. 23/10/1953, Kraków), obtained degrees in organ (with L. Werner), music theory and composition (B. Schaeffer) and electronic music (J. Patkowski) at the Krakow Academy of Music. In 1977 he founded the association Music Center, where he works since 1976, and since 2000 he is the head of the Electroacoustic Music Studio of the Academy of Music in Krakow. He is the founder and co-founder of many groups: Freight Train, Studio MCH, Studio Ch & K, CH & K & K, mc2 duo, Double Mark, Inifinity Quartet, Natural Plastic, Kinetic Trio, dizzy kinetics. He writes instrumental music, electro, radio, film and TV, is the author of sound installations and video, audiovisual projects, spatial and network. Concerts, teaching courses and lectures in many countries in Europe, Asia, North America. And South. He is the founder, artistic director, coordinator and partner of many international artistic projects: Series Audio Art (1987), Audio Art Festival (1993), International Workshops for New Music Cracow / Stuttgart (1993), Internationale Akademie für Neue Komposition und Audio Art (1993), Videos Silent with Music Live (1994), GlobalMix (1998), Ship Artists (2000), GPSArtn (2000), Ensemble Spiel (2003), Bridges and European Modern Orchestra (2003/2005), Polish Society for Electroacoustic Music (Polish section of CIME / ICEM, 2005), Integra (2005-2010), Polish Sound Art in China and Chinese Sound Art in Poland ( 2006/2007), PAFME (2006), EuropeannCourse for Musical Composition and Technologies (2006), Days of Polish Culture in Luxembourg (2008), Integra (2006). He received the Honorary Award of FPC, Minister of Culture and Independent Project Grant CEC ArtsLink in New York. Since 2008, he is the Secretary, and since 2011 the President of the International Confederation of Electroacoustic Music (CIME / ICEM). http://www.studiomch.art.pl/index_ang.html